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The joke on Dinette Set is always the same, that dumb, lower-middle-class, middle-aged people sure are dumb. (I’m ashamed to say that I do read it.) Here they don’t know the difference between Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, a high-end steakhouse, and Outback Steakhouse, a lower-end chain.

THe problem I have with kokes like this is that for many people, a place like Ruth’s Chris is not so noticeably “better” that they would feel happy about a meal there. I know people who sneer at Ruth’s Chris because it is a chain, and they don’t believe any chain can be good. Maybe the joke is that people are sitting around comparing chain restaurants. I would be tthat if the Pennys went to Ruth Chris, they wouldn’t notice the difference in quality enough to justify the increased price in their mind. I certainly wouldn’t recommend a high end place to my mom, who loves the Outback, and those Black Angus places, and even that Texas Roadhouse place.

I think the creator just wanted to use the “outhouse” line. Bathroom humor. That always kills ’em.

I don’t eat a lot of steak and rarely if ever go to steakhouses, so I’d never heard of “Ruth’s Chris.” But because of the Soylent Green thing on the TV set, I completely misread this. I thought that the steaks at Ruth’s were *made* out of some guy named Chris.

Maybe the joke is that people in the “Where’s the Beef?” Singles’ Club would sit around talking about steakhouses?

I’m with Joe Blevins, though, on the obscurity of something called “Ruth’s Chris”. I hate internationally distributed cartoons that assume that everyone lives in the same section of the United States as the cartoonist.

Apparently Ruth’s Chris is in fact a national chain. So it’s not as weirdly local as all the local yacht club and school jokes have been in the strip:
from their web site

“Whether it’s in your own hometown or in another hemisphere, you can count on Ruth’s Chris Steak House. With over one hundred restaurants across the country and around the world, each sizzles in its own distinctive way. But it’s good to know that in many different places around the world, you can have the world’s best steak.”

Apparently there are five locations in Hawaii.

I think Ms. larsen is making a subtle comment on the homogenizing of American food culture. She’s been reading Alton Brown.

In Soylent Green meat was scarce. VERY Scarce. Entire renegade vigilante groups went around searching out food. It was so bad that the government had to step in with soylent products, culminating in Soylent Green. Actual food was so scarce that Soylent Green was made of people! So it is somewhat ironic that here, the people are all chatting casually about steak, they are in beef eating clubs, and that a steakhouse (however questionable) is even sponsoring Soylent Green.

totally unrelated . . . but about “Ruth Chris'” being a stupid name . . . I live in the area of the king of stupid names– Fifth Third Bank–which was obviously Fifth Bank, that merged with Third Bank, but those of us who still believe in fractions obviously have a really difficult time with it all . . . I personally refer to it as “One and two-thirds Bank”.

Am I the only one who thinks “Fifth Bank” is a ridiculous name to begin with? And “Third Bank” not far behind.

I don’t live in the 1-2/3 Bank area (where is that?), and never knew it was a real bank until today, but I occasionally get spam “from” Fifth Third Bank. I always thought, who would be stupid enough to believe that an e-mail from an institution with such an absurd name could be legit? Apparently truth really is stranger than fiction.

I wonder who decided to interpret it as “One-and-Two-Thirds Bank” and not “Fifteenth Bank”. Technically, the fifth third would be One-and-One-Third-to-One-and-Two-Thirds Bank”, right?

My stepdad just became an assistant manager at an Outback Steakhouse, so… ouch. 🙂

but I occasionally get spam “from” Fifth Third Bank. I always thought, who would be stupid enough to believe that an e-mail from an institution with such an absurd name could be legit? Apparently truth really is stranger than fiction.

I got the same spam and thought the same thing. I, too, was surprised to find out that it was a real bank.